Darryl O’Young dejected after Salzburgring

Darryl O’Young had a weekend to forget during the World Touring Car Championship’s trip to the Salzburgring for the fifth round of the 2013 campaign.

The Hong Kong based racer finished qualifying with the 18^th fastest time and he was one of 14 drivers called before the stewards and they gave him a 5 place grid drop – but with the other penalties applied, the ROAL Motorsport driver actually moved up the order to 17^th.

“For three laps on my qualifying session, each attempt resulted in me catching traffic therefore making it impossible to complete a fast lap,” said O’Young about his qualifying session.

“I was later penalized for going too slow on the circuit, but in my opinion, this ruling was completely unfair as I had no option to pass the cars in front as the circuit was blocked. As a result, I took a 5-place grid penalty in Race 1,” added a frustrated O’Young on his qualifying penalty.

O’Young saw his weekend go from bad to worse as his weekend was prematurely ended with three laps of the opening race to go.

Having climbed up the order to 14^th position, he was in a five way scrap for the final two points paying positions when the two Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320TC’s came together and the unfortunate O’Young was collected by Franz Engstler.

“I was having a strong race moving up three spots to overall P14. I was involved in a 5-way fight for P9 when suddenly two cars spun in front. I was unable to avoid Engstler and he hit my door as he spun around,” said O’Young of the accident at the final chicane.

The damage sustained on the ROAL Motorsport car was too heavy to be repaired and O’Young sat out the second race of the weekend.

“The damage on the doors was severe due to having carbon doors. I didn’t expect it, but the team was unable to fix the car before Race 2. My weekend was over,” said a despondent O’Young.

Despite the double no score in Austria, O’Young is currently sixth in the Yokohama Independents’ ahead of the sixth round of the 2013 World Touring Car Championship, which will be held at the Moscow Raceway over the 8^th/9^th June.